As described in copending patent application Ser. No. 06/685,464, filed Dec. 24, 1984, entitled "Calibration Method For Using Fluorescent Microbeads And Synthesis Thereof", microbeads can be produced which not only have the size of biological cells, but also have the fluorescent excitation and emission properties, i.e., the spectral properties of stained cells. Maintaining these properties is extremely important when using these microbeads as standards for performing quantitative fluorescence measurements. However to retain these properties, it is necessary to keep the microbeads in the same environment as that in which the stained cells are held. This is because the fluorescent dyes associated with the microbeads, e.g. fluorescein, are very sensitive to environmental conditions such as solvent and pH. Moreover, when observing a suspension of these microbeads which have been placed on a glass slide with a cover slip under a microscope they are found to be highly mobile within the aqueous suspending solution. This mobility make these microbeads very difficult to photograph and to quantitatively measure their size and fluorescence intensities. Furthermore with time, these mounts dry out leaving the microbeads in air which changes their spectral properties.